XP Fails to Boot

[Guest]

Hi,

I recently removed a bunch of old programs from my PC. Now when I boot, my
PC just sits on the windows startup screen. The blue bar keeps scrolling, but
it never progresses any further.

I've tried booting from safe mode, and from that last known good config, but
I get the same problem with both.

I was planning to pull the data off the HD and do a full reinstall, but it
is NTFS so other Windows installations don't recognise it.

If anyone has any suggestions, I'd be hugely appreciative.

Thanks!

 

[Rock]

Hi,

I recently removed a bunch of old programs from my PC. Now when I boot, my
PC just sits on the windows startup screen. The blue bar keeps scrolling, but
it never progresses any further.

I've tried booting from safe mode, and from that last known good config, but
I get the same problem with both.

I was planning to pull the data off the HD and do a full reinstall, but it
is NTFS so other Windows installations don't recognise it.

If anyone has any suggestions, I'd be hugely appreciative.

Thanks!

You should be able to see the drive and data if it's slaved in another
XP or Win2k computer. If it's giving access denied messages when trying
to view the data it's an issue of permissions and ownership. See this
article:

HOW TO: Take Ownership of a File or Folder in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=308421

Did you try the safe mode with command prompt option? If that works do
a system restore from the command prompt by typing this in:

c:\windows\system32\restore\rstrui.exe

If it won't boot into safe mode with command prompt, and the data has
been backed up, boot from the installation CD, take the first R for
repair to enter the recovery console. It will ask for the password for
the built in Administrator account. Type whatever you assigned for
_that_ account. If it's XP Home the password might be blank so just hit
enter. Once in the recovery console do a chkdsk /p. See if that helps.

If that doesn't work do a repair install:
http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the help, but no love

When in slave mode, the drive in question shows up as something along the
lines of "Drive is not formatted. Do you wish to format?".

Also, when I boot into CLI mode, it gets to "system32\DRIVERS\agp440.sys
before stalling and rebooting.

Finally when I try booting from the Windows CD, the repair option is not
available.

I'm more than happy to do a clean install, but I need to pull the data off
the drive before I do. (Note to self, teach parents to backup).

Anyone have any more ideas? I'm desparate!

 

[Rock]

Thanks for the help, but no love

When in slave mode, the drive in question shows up as something along the
lines of "Drive is not formatted. Do you wish to format?".

Also, when I boot into CLI mode, it gets to "system32\DRIVERS\agp440.sys
before stalling and rebooting.

Finally when I try booting from the Windows CD, the repair option is not
available.

I'm more than happy to do a clean install, but I need to pull the data off
the drive before I do. (Note to self, teach parents to backup).

Anyone have any more ideas? I'm desparate!

Sounds like you have an branded OEM installation CD that doesn't allow
for the repair install.

There are other options to try for data recovery. One is to great a
Bart's PE bootable CD on a working XP system. Boot with that and if it
sees the drive ok, copy the data.

If there are two CD drives in the system, one a burner, download a Linux
distro called Knoppix to create a bootable CD. Boot from that and use
the k3b program to burn the data to CD.

http://www.knoppix.org/

If none of these options see the drive then then the next option is a
data recovery service. Here are two:

www.drivesavers.com
www.ontrack.com

 

[Malke]

Thanks for the help, but no love

When in slave mode, the drive in question shows up as something along
the lines of "Drive is not formatted. Do you wish to format?".

Also, when I boot into CLI mode, it gets to
"system32\DRIVERS\agp440.sys before stalling and rebooting.

Finally when I try booting from the Windows CD, the repair option is
not available.

I'm more than happy to do a clean install, but I need to pull the data
off the drive before I do. (Note to self, teach parents to backup).

Try to get the data off with Knoppix, a Linux distro on a live cd. You
will need a computer with two cd drives, one of which is a cd/dvd-rw OR
a usb thumb drive with enough capacity to hold your data. To get
Knoppix, you need a computer with a fast Internet connection and
third-party burning software. Download the Knoppix .iso from
www.knoppix.net and create your bootable cd. Then boot with it and it
will be able to see the Windows files. If you are using the usb thumb
drive, right-click on its icon (on the Desktop) to get its properties
and uncheck the box that says "Read Only". Then click on it to open it.
Note that the default mouse action in the window manager used by
Knoppix (KDE) is a single click to open instead of the traditional MS
Windows' double-click. Otherwise, use the K3b burning program to burn
the files to cd/dvd-r's.

If Knoppix can't get the files off, perhaps the drive itself is failing.
Test the hardware with a diagnostic utility from the drive mftr.'s
website. Download the file and make a bootable floppy or cd with it.
Boot with the media and do a thorough test. If the drive has physical
errors, replace it.

If the drive is failing and the data is crucial, stop working with the
drive immediately and contact a professional data recovery firm. I like
DriveSavers, but there are others. These firms' services are not
inexpensive, but only you can determine the value of the data.

DriveSavers - http://www.drivesavers.com
Seagate Data Recovery Services -
http://www.seagate.com/support/service/drs/services.html
Ontrack - http://www.ontrack.com

Malke

 

[Russ]

Like to pull the data off the drive???
All the more reason to partition the drive and keep your data on a
separate partition.